The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of vehicle trailer hitch accessories and more specifically relates to a swing-away hitch adapter system.
2. Description of Related Art
Many people in modern society drive vehicles between locations for work and/or pleasure. Many individuals also ride bicycles and motorcycles for the same reasons. Bicyclists may ride for exercise and to get to locations not easily accessible by conventional road vehicles. Sometimes these locations may be a very long distance from where the individual resides and thus may not be practical unless the bicycle is able to be loaded and carried to the location using a car, truck, or other vehicle.
Loading and carrying bicycles between locations may be difficult due to cargo capacity limitations of vehicles. Some individuals may choose to secure the bicycles to the roof of the vehicle, however, this may cause wind resistance for the vehicle and may not be safe. Further, placement as such may prove difficult to secure and remove the bicycle given the height. Damage may result to the roof of the vehicle using this means for bicycle transport. Other individuals may load the bicycle(s) into the bed of the truck which may use valuable cargo space. Yet other individuals may fasten the bicycles to the back of a vehicle by use of a specialized rack, but this may limit access into and from the bed of the truck or rear access to the interior of the vehicle. This is not desirable.
Additionally, the standard vehicle may not have adequate storage space to transport items necessitating external cargo storage. A popular method of transporting such items is with a hitch-mounted cargo device. One limitation with such a device is that it can again limit the access to the rear entry of a vehicle, especially in vehicles having swing-away tailgates. Therefore a suitable solution is needed to carry items such as bicycles and cargo with the use of a rear, hitch-mounted device while not restricting rear access to a vehicle.
Several attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,799 to Didlake, U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,824 to De Aquiar, U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,229 to Allen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,843 to Bogoslofski et al., 2005/0184013 to Frazeur, and 2012/0118928 to Law et al. This art is representative of vehicle trailer hitch accessories. However, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.
Preferably, a swing-away hitch adapter system should provide a means to utilize a vehicle-hitch mounted device to carry cargo or other items on the rear of the vehicle while not limiting access to the rear entry of the vehicle, and, yet would operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable swing-away hitch adapter system to avoid the above-mentioned problems.